


And When He Sings, The Sea Sings Back

by AllWaysALady, YardsOfYellow



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies), Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon)
Genre: Crossover, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fantasy AU, Mermaid Varian, Modern AU, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Siren Varian, Slow Burn, kind of?, siren au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:08:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 20,786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28442163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AllWaysALady/pseuds/AllWaysALady, https://archiveofourown.org/users/YardsOfYellow/pseuds/YardsOfYellow
Summary: Hiccup isn’t the biggest fan of fish. He’s not really the biggest fan of the ocean either. When you grow up on a tiny island in the middle of fuck off nowhere in the Atlantic, everything is fish and salt and wet. As far as he’s concerned, unless it’s a dragon, whatever’s under the waves can stay there and leave him well enough alone.So when his dad drags him along on a trade negotiation trip to the seaside town of Corona, he is all set to keep his interactions with the ocean and any of the fish in it to a minimum. A task that would be a whole lot easier if said fish would actuallystay in the damn water.
Relationships: Cassandra/Rapunzel (Disney: Tangled), Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider/Rapunzel, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III/Varian (Disney)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 62





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Christ this is my first time writing in a while.
> 
> Welcome to Yellow and I's hyper-specific and incredibly convoluted Variccup AU. Some of the world building is very loosely based on the Fablehaven books because the idea of magical preserves is real interesting to play around with. This whole thing is mostly an excuse to make Varian a mermaid/siren because I am an actual five year old who is still far too fascinated by the ocean.

They’d been flying for nearly two weeks, and while there had been stops, Hiccup was so ready for a real break. He loved flying, and he spent most of his time on Toothless back at Berk, but he’d really rather be doing it without a third of his belongings riding along with. He nearly groans in thanks when he sees land ahead and Stoick yells back that they have finally reached Corona. He can hear both of the twins whoop from behind him though.

They’ve reached the little town at the edge of the ocean just barely by lunchtime. Oh _lunch_ , there was a thought. Lunch that wasn’t just preservatives and whatever was in their packs. Real food that they could sit down to eat instead of trying to scarf down while steering their dragons. Hiccup could get a burger, Odin he could get a burger.

“C’mon bud,” He mutters down at Toothless. “Almost there and you can rest and I’ll get you as much fish as you want.” Toothless gurgles in response, wiggling under the saddle.

Hiccup scratches behind his ear and sits up again, facing his parents ahead of him. He smiles, watching them bicker between each other. Getting his mom back had changed so much in his father, even if learning how to be a family again was hard at times. Valka was still so guarded and had very little idea of how to be a mother, but she was trying, they were all trying and Hiccup had never seen his dad so happy. He was softer around the edges, more willing to put up with Hiccup’s copious shenanigans, mostly because Valka was more often than not right there next to him. His dad now had to look after two “hopeless fools with no sense of self preservation” and groaned about it profusely. Still, Hiccup was learning a lot about his broken little family and how he fit into it, and he wouldn’t trade it for all of the world. Even if it meant leaving Berk for months on account of blasted trade negotiations with a town on the other side of the damned ocean.

Astrid sidles up next to him. “So, what kind of magic users do you think they’ll have? The place looks pretty small to me, could be smaller than Berk.”

“Corona’s supposed to be kind of a magical hub. More magic bearers are born there than almost anywhere else, and there are plenty of magical enhancements sold in the town too. Their main export is enchanted goods, and the surrounding forest is a preserve for the magical creatures that can’t really integrate safely into society. Kind of like Berk, but with way more than just dragons.” Hiccup says, and there’s a giddy smile creeping onto his face. Yes he came on this trip for his dad, but the preserve was the real reason he’d agreed to come allong.

“What textbook did you have to swallow to find all that out?”

“Ahahaha, very funny Hofferson.” He steers Toothless into Stormfly’s line of flight and Astrid has to scramble to get a tighter grip on her reigns. She shoots him a glare and he gives her an innocent smile. “Dad was actually the one to tell me. Apparently he’s been here before. Says he had an old friend that lives in Corona and knows the head chairman of the town council.”

“Mhmm, and I’m so sure that’s all the research you did. Because it is an entirely Hiccup thing to do to visit a magical preserve and just not dig up all the information you can. I know you didn’t agree to come along on this trip just because your dad wanted you to and you definitely didn't do it for the politics. I’d wager you already have a whole list of critters you’re going to go chasing after once we get there? What's first? Unicorns? Or are we after trolls again?” She’s wearing that I’m-being-a-shit-and-I-know-it look on her face.

“I'm not a kid anymore Astrid. I’m not stupid enough to go chasing trolls, one jinx was enough. And only parts of the forest are open to visitors. The town is open game, but not even the residents go into most of the forest. There’s supposed to be a lot more dangerous things in there than in the woods at Berk. The worst we have are some of our more wild dragons, dad said there were actual _wraiths_ here.”

Astrid gives him a far too knowing stare. “Aha, and how long until you completely disregard that because you saw the tail of something cool poking out of a bush?”

Hiccup looks away guiltily. “I swear I'm gonna try not to,” he shifts in his saddle. “I’ve got to represent the tribe well while we're here for the next few months.”

“Sure”

They ride in comfortable silence for a few minutes, watching the coastline creep closer. He wasn’t lying, he really is going to try to stay only in the town and the parts of the forest that were open to visitors. Maybe a little bit of wandering, but not very far. If he had Toothless with him he'd probably be more than safe as long as they didn’t go in too deep. And there was nothing that said he couldn’t fly over the deeper sections of the forest. The problem was not getting caught while doing it, which is something Hiccup doesn't have the best track record for.

“What about the water?” Astrid breaks the easy quiet to ask, her eyes are trained on the waves far below them, watching their shadows coast across the ridges and divots. “Your dad or your nerd research tell you anything about what’s under there?”

Hiccup looks down at the deep turquoise ocean. “Surprisingly, not too much. You’d think a beach town would have a lot of stuff in the waters, but I was only able to find a few short listings of pixies, some small colonies of selkies that will visit seasonally, and the suspected hippocampi deeper in, but nothing else in the waters close to Corona proper. No sirens or sea serpents, if that’s what you’re thinking.” He shrugs and raises his eyes back up to the ever approaching shoreline. The town is situated just a little ways up from the water with colorful roofs and houses all twisted in close to each other. Up the coast, a white lighthouse stands a few miles away from the town itself, a bit farther than most lighthouses would normally be. “But that’s fine by me,” Hiccup says, patting Toothless’s side absentmindedly. “Berk is surrounded by ocean, I think I have enough dealings with seawater and all of the fish in it at home on a regular Tuesday. I’m much more interested with the creatures on the actual land bit.”

“Fair.” Astrid nods. “The only real interactions I want to have with all that ocean is being able to swim in water that isn’t colder than Thor’s balls.”

“Oh I feel that.”

Ahead of them, he can hear his dad yell that they’ve arrived and Hiccup signals the rest of their visiting troop to slow their mounts as he guides Toothless down towards the beach.

…

Far away, down the sand and rocks a figure watches the group of travelers descend. He brushes his too-long bangs out of his eyes and huffs when the ocean breeze only blows them back. Saltwater laps at his legs, sloshing up to hit the hem of his short cargo pants, the fabric coming away dry. Little fish swim up and nuzzle at his ankles. He digs his toes deeper into the wet sand and squints at the figures gliding down to the beach.

“Looks like dragons. I’m sure the harpies will love that.” He whispers to the water. Glancing back up at the approaching newcomers, and scowls. “Dragons with riders. Fantastic. Because all I need is more judgy ass people in that town.” The darkest one closer to the front of the pack brakes away and dives for the beach, landing in a spray of sand. Reckless idiot.

Turning his back to the ocean, he makes his way out of the waves, shooing fish and crabs from under his feet as he goes. He reaches dry sand, slips on a pair of cheap plastic flip flops, and scoops up a worn canvas satchel, tossing it over his shoulder. A sharp whistle calls a fuzzy raccoon to his side and up his clothes to perch around his neck. Making his way up the sand and to the stairs that lead up and away from the beach, he passes under the shadow of the lighthouse and disappears behind the rocks.  
…

“Do you think we got enough fish for them?”

“Rapz.”

“I hope they like the place they’ll be staying in. Maybe I should have put more pillows in their rooms, they've been travelling for weeks, they'll probably be tired from flying that long. I definitely should have put more.”

“Rapunzel.”

“Do you think it would be impolite to ask for a ride? Will the dragons even let anyone else ride them? God, I really should have done more research.”

“Rapunzel! Love, chill!”

Rapunzel stops her nervous pacing and spins to face her girlfriend where she’s slumped on the couch in the living room. Her hands reach up to twist her short hair between her fingers. “I can’t Cass, what if I mess up? What if they don’t like it here? What if I did too little? What if I did too much? What if _I’m_ too much?!”

Cassandra sighs and lifts herself up from the couch, moving to put her hands on Rapunzel’s shoulders. “Rapz, let’s be honest here. You’ve researched and prepped for months since Frederic told you that the chief and his tribe were visiting. You’re going to be fine, it’s just a small group. There’s nothing to worry about. And you’re never too much sweetheart.”

“You don’t know that.” Rapunzel whispers. “I just want everything to be perfect.”

“It will be.” Cass reaches to hold Rapunzel’s face in her hands. “I don’t know of anyone else as welcoming as you are. You’ll show them the town, teach them about all the things you love about it, all the things you think are special, and your father will handle the rest of the politics. Everything is going to be just fine.”

Rapunzel grips Cassandra’s wrists and takes a deep breath to steady her jittering hands. “Ok, ok. I’ve got this. I will make them love Corona just as much as I do and then they will have to agree to a trade exchange.”

“That’s better.” Cass hummed and Rapunzel scrunches her nose and giggles as her girlfriend leans in to place a kiss on her forehead. She reaches up to give her a real kiss, smiling into it when Cassandra moves her arms to her waist.

“You two are sickening, you know that?”

“Eugene!” Rapunzel jumps away from Cassandra and runs to tackle her boyfriend where he’s leaning against the screen door that opens to the front porch.

“Hey there sunshine.” He smiles, catching her in a hug. She hops up to give Eugene a kiss as well and laughs when he lifts her up for another one.

“Do you mind Fitzherbert? We were kind of having a moment.” Cass grumbles and smacks his arm.

“And I’m ruining it.” Eugene says with a self satisfied grin and a peck to Rapunzel’s cheek. “I deserve kisses too.”

“Since when?”

Rapunzel sends her disapproving frown and proceeds to cover Eugene’s face in as many of them as she can manage. “He deserves all the kisses Cass!”

“Hah! See I’m her favorite!”

Cass snorts, “Like hell you are.”

“You're both my favorite.” Rapunzel says, pulling the two of them down into a hug.

“We know.” They echo, squishing her delightfully between them.

“Good.” She says and pulls back until she’s only holding their hands in hers.

“How are we feeling about the trade group coming in from Berk?” Eugene asks and looks to Cassandra. “Did you manage to calm her down any?”

“Yep, our Rapz is back to her normal optimistic self, not that you were any help.”

Eugene sticks his tongue out at her and grins down at Rapunzel. “Good, cause I thought you might want to know that they just arrived.”

“They did?!” And any traces of her prior nervousness are gone. In a matter of seconds, she’s hauling her partners out the screen door and down the street. “Come on, come on, come on! We have to go meet them!”

She can hear them laughing behind her as she sprints through the dirt and cobblestone streets, aiming for the beach. She startles a flock of roaming chickens when she turns a corner and runs for one of the many stepped paths leading down from the town and to the ocean. Cassandra and Eugene are yelling apologies back at the people she is bumping into. Then she sees the group of dragons clustered on the edge of the beach, their riders and assisting Coronans unloading packs from their mounts, and now she’s taking the steps by twos. When she finally hits sand, she sprints to where her father and mother are standing with an absolutely huge man and a much less huge woman.

“Hi! Welcome to Corona!” And she knows she’s probably interrupting and she knows it isn’t polite, but she doesn’t _care_ because they’re here and she’s been waiting weeks for this. Her parents are chuckling though and the man and woman with them are smiling, so it must be ok.

“Much thanks, little lady, it’s a pleasure to be here again after so long.” The large man says, sketching a dramatic bow that makes the woman next to him roll her eyes and elbow his side. He’s a good head and a half taller than Rapunzel’s father, fire red hair and beard fuzzing out from the many braids that wrapped it. It covers most of his lower face, but opens up to reveal kind eyes and a forehead criss-crossed with worry lines. There are tattoos all over his arms, intricate designs and lines that Rapunzel so badly wants to ask about.

“Chief Stoick Haddock of Berk and my wife and chieftess, Valka Haddock.” he gestures to the woman at his side. She smiles and offers Rapunzel a nod, the rows of her long knotted hair waving as she does. She has more visible greying streaks than her husband, even though she looks physically younger than him. She carries a long curved staff at her side that rattles when she moves it.

“This is our daughter, Rapunzel.” Arianna says, moving to squeeze her daughter and run a hand down her hair. “And your hair is starting to glow dear.”

“Oops.” She ruffles her fingers through it. The few golden slivers in it fade back to brown. “Sorry, excited.”

“Not a problem my dear!” Stoick laughs. “I’m well used to this town's gifted individuals. Though, in my time here, I did spend more time out of Corona than in it, isn’t that right Fredric?”

Rapunzel’s father gives him a knowing smile. “All too well, chief. We still have strained relations with the fairy clan you ‘disturbed’.”

The chief releases a deep roaring laugh. “Good times Frederic, my good fellow! Quirin nearly had my head for that!”

It takes a lot of strength for Rapunzel not to flinch at the name. She can see her father’s face tighten for half a second before he schools it back to a neutral expression. “Indeed.”

“Now this is a story I have yet to hear!” The chief’s wife gives her husband a playfully skeptical look. “What did you get into? You say I’m careless with creatures, but stirring up trouble with fairies Stoick? You should know better!”

“Aye,” He says, rubbing the back of his neck. “I do, now. That was my lesson, love, but it’s a story for another time.”

“I should hope so.” Valka adds, poking her husband’s arm with her staff.

“How is Quirin now then, the old rascal? Haven’t heard much from the man.” Stoick asks, directing his attention to Frederic again.

Rapunzel feels her stomach churn as she watches her father plaster on a false smile. “He’s been on and off the preserve doing work. The place has grown a lot since you last visited. He’s a busy man, caring for it all. I’ll send word to him though! I’m sure he’ll be glad to hear you’re in town!”

“Oh that's a shame.” The chief frowned. “Had hoped to see the man, finally get to meet his lad. But no matter, no matter, there will be time for reunions when he returns!”

“Of course.” Her father says, his pleasant smile not quite reaching his eyes.

He was lying again. It made Rapunzel sick. She knew no notice would be sent, knew Quirin wouldn't receive it even if it was, knew there would be no reunion any time soon, if ever. The chief of Berk knew Quirin, more than that, he was good friends with him and her father wasn’t going to tell him a thing. He knew about Varian. But her dad was keeping things quiet so he wouldn’t have to deal with it, like he’d been doing for a year.

Rapunzel goes to speak, because there is no way she isn’t going to argue against her father on this but he beats her to it. “I’m glad to see you back Chief! I look forward to establishing a solid trade network between Corona and Berk!”

She straightens and snaps her mouth shut. Right, the trade negotiations. Her father had known she was about to fight back and was making a point to remind her why the chief was here in the first place. If she told him the truth, it could threaten negotiations and keep Corona from a much needed import of valuable resources that they didn't have access to without dragons on the preserve. She can’t jeopardize it. She knows Cassandra and Eugene realize it too when they step forward to grasp her hands in theirs. She squeezes them, trying her hardest to put on a happy charade to match her father’s.

“Certainly, certainly! But let’s not discuss politics now. We’ve only just arrived, let us unpack and get some food in our bellies if you will! Us vikings are used to eating much more than we have over the past weeks, especially when you travel with a pack of rowdy teenagers like this lot! Get crankier than the dragons if they haven’t had a good meal they do!” Stoick chuckles and gives Rapunzel a wink.

“Absolutely. I believe Rapunzel has prepared everything for both you and your mounts, she’ll get you all settled!” Frederic gestures to her.

“Aye!” The chief agrees, then turns and hollers, “Hiccup me boy! Come here son!”

A lean boy several yards away looks up from where he’s unbuckling a bag from a sleek black dragon at his side. He gives a short nod, messy brown hair bouncing, and finishes detaching the pack from his dragon, slinging it over his shoulder and trudging through the sand towards them. The metal of his prosthetic left foot glints under the sun as he walks. She feels some of her earlier excitement return when she sees the dragon follow along behind him, and Rapunzel has to remind herself that she needs to ask before trying to pet it.


	2. Chapter 2

Hiccup hobbles to where his parents stand with a group of Coronans, swearing at his leg as sand gets caught in the gears and deepens his limp. This is why he stays off the beaches back at Berk. He’s going to have to oil the whole prosthetic if they’re going to stay on shore for much longer. Toothless moves to his side when Hiccup stumbles, offering at least some balance. “Thanks bud.” He grunts and puts a hand on Toothless's side. Hiccup stops at his father’s side, fighting to keep his balance again when Stoick claps a hand on his shoulder.

“My son, Hiccup,” His father says, looking down at him with pride and Hiccup tries not to fidget. “It’s because of him that Berk is the sanctuary that it is now.”

“Not for my lack of trying.” His mother mutters beside him, and there’s a tone of bitterness there. Hiccup can see his father’s eyes fill with guilt. An old wound still healing for the both of them.

“Aye,” And Stoick reaches his arm around her to give her a gentle squeeze. “You’re right there, love.”

The graying man in front of them nods. Frederic, the head of Corona, if he remembers correctly from what his father had told him. “I’d heard there had been a change in the management of the dragons on Berk and surrounding islands in more recent years. My interest was piqued when I saw that the statistics of dragon related conflicts and the total deaths on both sides had fallen so dramatically. Dragon riders, not slayers. A far stretch from our younger days, Stoick.”

“Indeed. We haven’t had a single serious incident in nearly four years. Hiccup takes charge of most of the care for the dragons at Berk, so I will be leaving our mounts with him in the meanwhile.”

Oh thank Odin. Dragon stuff he can handle, it’s what he’s good at. Taking care of them is easy, politics are not. He turns to address their company directly. “Our dragons are used to living alongside their riders, more often than not inside their houses when they can fit. I understand that isn’t possible in places not made to accommodate them, but would it be possible for them to be housed nearby where we will be staying?”

The girl standing at Frederic’s side snaps to attention. “Oh, I thought that might be the case! We’ll be placing you in houses close to our biggest and most open stables. Will that work? We can try to make a space for them at the edge of the forest, but it might be too disruptive to the creatures living close by.”

“I’d have to see the stables, but as long as they’re open to the sky and the dragons will be near enough to their riders, they should work.” Hiccup says, even though everything in him screams at the chance for an excuse to get into even just a little bit of the forest.

“Then we’ll leave you kids to it.” His father claps his hands decisively. “Hiccup, get the dragons settled in and your mother and I will come around once we’re done here. Ah, should pro’lly go get Gobber…” He pats Hiccup’s back and wanders off with Valka. Frederic and the woman with him, likely his wife Arianna, give Hiccup a little bow and follow after them.

The girl steps forward to offer her hand for a shake. She was maybe a year or two older than him and a little shorter. Short brown hair fluffs out at the sides of her head. She wasn’t wearing shoes like the two behind her, but Hiccup suspected it wasn’t too out of the ordinary for a town located at the edge of the beach. He shakes her hand and holds down a shiver at the weird feeling of warmth that spread up his arm.

“Rapunzel,” She says, letting go of his hand. The unnatural warmth disappears as she does. “That was my father and mother. We’re so glad that you’re here. I’ve done my best to make sure that both you and your mounts are comfortable during your stay.”

“Hiccup and this,” He reaches to stroke the scales under his dragon’s chin. “Is Toothless.” Rapunzel’s eyes follow his hand with fascination, and she shifts forward while her own hands twitch at her side. The man and woman behind her give each other a knowing look and Hiccup cracks a grin. She looks just like what he suspects he looked like when he’d first met Toothless. “You can pet him if you want.”

Her head shoots up, eyes dancing gold instead of the green they were only a second ago. “Really?!”

“Uh, yeah sure.” And he tries not to stare too much when her hair begins showing glowing streaks of gold as well. “Just place your hand out like this.” He says, walking her through the motions. The darker haired woman and taller man with her step in closer as well, watching with interest. Hiccup starts when Toothless eagerly presses his muzzle into Rapunzel’s hand and her hair starts to float about her head, growing in length.

“Uhm, can I ask…” Hiccup starts uncertainty, pointing at what was now at the least a foot more hair flying around her. She hums and tears her eyes from where Toothless is nuzzling into her hand. Her eyes cross on a strand of hair fluttering between them.

“Oh, that. That happens sometimes.” She says, her hair twisting around her.

“Fascinating.” And now it’s Hiccup’s turn to look awestruck. “I’d read that Corona had more people that were magically gifted, is that what all of this is?”

“Yes! Most of the people in Corona have some sort of magical influence. Both Cassandra and I were born with stronger powers.” She juts her head at the woman with her that looks like she could break Hiccup in half. She offers Hiccup a curt nod and her eyes flash an eerie blue.

“Hi, name’s Eugene. I'm the _normal_ one.” The man says over Rapunzel’s glowing head of hair, earning himself a punch to the arm from Cassandra. Rapunzel hushes both of them and her hair returns to its original length and color, but the sunny gold in her eyes stays. Toothless whines when she reluctantly takes her hand away from where she’s been petting him and shoves it in the pocket of her shorts.

“Would it be better to take your dragons to the stables first, or to stop by your rooms to unpack?”

Hiccup hums and looks back at the rest of their group, catching Astrid’s eyes and motioning for her to join them. A sharp whistle from her has the rest of their party dragging themselves and their dragons over. He directs his attention back to Rapunzel, whose eyes widen considerably as she watches the other riders approach. “I think it would be best to drop off our things first and then head to the stables. Then our dragons won’t be carrying our supplies for any longer than they have to.”

She nods and stands back as the riders and their dragons gather around. Astrid sidles up beside him, swinging her axe now that it’s untied from Stormfly’s baggage. The head of it thuds against the sand as she uses it to lean on. “So what’s the plan, o great dragon master? If I have to hear the twins whine one more time about being hungry I _will_ throttle one of them.”

Hiccup’s stomach grumbles at the reminder of food. He looks desperately at Rapunzel. “Would it be possible to get food for both us and our dragons on our way as well?”

“Absolutely!” She laughs. “There’s fish for your mounts at the stables and I’ve supplied your rooms with plenty of food.”

“Hell yeah, grub!” Ruffnut howls and makes the fatal mistake of knocking into Astrid in the process. Hiccup winces when Astrid hoists her axe and shoves the handle into Ruff’s gut in retaliation. She wheezes and collapses over Barf’s neck.

“Ohoho,” Hiccup can hear Cassandra whisper to Rapunzel. “I like her.”

…

Hours later Hiccup finds himself walking leisurely through Corona. He’d left Toothless back at the stables, and everyone else had either gone out exploring or returned to their rooms for a much needed nap. He’d changed out of his riding leathers to shorts and a loose fitting t-shirt. Corona is a very different temperature than Berk, and he greatly appreciates not having to live in jeans and hoodies for a while. Flip-flops are also a new experience, and the one on his foot smacks gently against his heel as he pokes around the brightly colored streets.

Windchimes tinkle gently from balconies and awnings on almost every building. At six in the evening the scent of all sorts of foods waft through the streets and mingle with the faint smell of salt blowing up from the ocean. The air is sweeter here than at Berk, less brackish. He likes being able to breathe without the reminder that all there was to eat was fish.

He continues traipsing through the cobblestone streets, surveying the vibrant little shops and houses until he eventually reaches the edge of town and is facing the beach. The waves lap at the shore below, whispering against the sand. He squints out at the water, shielding his eyes from the glare of the setting sun. Far out, a small sliver of the ocean churns and ripples against the flow of the current. The water goes back to its rhythmic sloshing a second later, so Hiccup ignores it.

He turns instead to the line of trees circling the edge of Corona. He wanders his way down the edge of the town front until he is standing before the great expanse of trees. Sunlight streaks through the branches of those nearest to the town, but the farther in he looks the darker the trees and foliage get. Wind blows out from the deeper parts of the forest, ruffling his hair in one long exhaled breath. He can feel cold slither down his spine, half from unease and half from his obnoxious and unending curiosity.

Against his better judgement, Hiccup begins to slowly creep through the outer layer of trees, picking around underbrush. His hands brush against trunks and leaves as he moves further in. More than half of Berk was covered in forest, but this feels different. These woods feel denser. Quieter too, near silent. Birds chirp from behind him, but not a sound comes from the dark trees ahead of him. You could always expect at least something to be watching you while walking through the forests of Berk, but here he feels like everything is staring him down. As creepy as the feeling is, the overwhelming urge to find out exactly what is staring is way stronger.

He’s just barely made it to where the trees began to close inward when his phone rings from his back pocket and nearly sends him into cardiac arrest. He braces himself against a tree to keep from falling over and pulls out the ringing device. He looks at the caller ID, seeing the stupid picture of Astrid he’d taken as her contact photo. Hiccup hits the answer button and holds the phone up to his ear, trying valiantly to push the adrenaline rush out of his system. “Yeah?”

“Sup nerd, your dad wants to know where you’re at. He wants to drag us all out to dinner at some place he used to go to.”

Hiccup huffs, pushing himself off of the trunk he’s leaning against and starts his trek back towards the town. “Tell him I’m on my way.” He says and ignores the disturbing feeling of the trees sucking in behind him.

“You sound a little out of breath.” Astrid notes suspiciously over the phone. “What’s up with that hmm?”

“Nothing.” He tries to say as nonchalantly as possible. He breaks out of the treeline and looks around to make sure no one is around to see him coming out.

“You’re a horrendous liar, you know that?”

“Shut up.” Hiccup grumbles and starts marching back into town, leaving the forest behind for now.

…

The screen door slams against the door frame behind Rapunzel when she enters the house. She stretches and pops her spine as she walks down the hall. She’d been out with their new arrivals for the majority of the day and had only just gotten home from accompanying them to dinner. Her chest still swells in excitement at the prospect of getting to better know the visiting vikings and their dragons. Hiccup had promised to take her for a ride on Toothless the next day once the dragon had some time to rest from the weeks of flying from Berk to Corona and the prospect of getting to actually fly is absolutely going to keep her from sleeping tonight.

She wanders into the kitchen and grabs herself a glass of water and brings it with her while she roams through the halls and rooms of the house. She can hear the faint mutterings of her parents and redirects her path to the living room. Her mother is curled up on the couch with a book and her father is sitting in his chair by the window with paperwork scattered over his lap and the coffee table beside him. His laptop is perched on the arm of the chair with even more papers covering the keys.

“Hi honey.” Her mother says, closing her book and resting it on her lap. Her father glances up from his work before returning his eyes back to the stack of papers in his hands. “How are our guests holding up?”

“Good I think. We got their dragons all settled into the stables, so there’s no need to mess with the preserve, and everything is set up in their rooms. Hiccup even told me he’d take me for a ride on his dragon tomorrow!”

“Oh that’s amazing sweetie!” Her mother joins in her excitement, while her father gives a little laugh. “Just be sure not to fall off, those animals can be dangerous.”

“Dad it’s fine! Toothless is really well behaved, almost as well behaved as Max is, and Hiccup said he wouldn’t be trying any crazy tricks while I was riding with them.”

Frederic snorts and pushes his reading glasses up his nose. Rapunzel watches him scribble on his papers and check some information with whatever is on his computer. He’s peaceful and calm, but she can’t keep from thinking back to what he’d said on the beach when the vikings had landed this afternoon. She shifts uncomfortably, trying to find the words to confront her father about it. After Gothel, confrontation with anyone is difficult, and this is already a very, very touchy subject between her and her father. “Hey dad?” She asks and swallows down her nerves, hoping that this doesn’t go south like it had every time before.

“Yes Rapunzel?” He responds, eyes never leaving his work.

“Why’d you lie to the Chief?” And she fights down the urge to bolt as soon as she says it.

Her father's hand stills where he is writing for a split second before continuing. “It wasn’t pertinent to the trade agreements, I didn’t see how it would be beneficial to mention.”

Rapunzel knows she’s a raging optimist, and the rage that she feels beginning to boil under her skin feels big and ugly and out of place. She tries her best to not let it show in her words. “Dad, Chief Stoick knew Quirin, even better than you did. He might have been able to help.”

“Rapunzel, your own healing magic didn’t work to bring him back, it is unlikely Chief Stoick would have been able to do any better.” He says dismissively.

“And what about Varian?” She asks, leashing her anger tighter, even though she can feel her eyes begin to flicker gold. She watches her father’s jaw tighten at his name. “The Chief might be able to reach him. Or his son. Hiccup managed to change the minds of an entire archipelago, he could do the same for him.”

“There is no reaching that child. He is far too powerful and far too dangerous. I will not put Stoick or his family at risk by asking him to try and reason with a lost cause.” Her father aggressively flips a sheet of paper over and continues to write.

Rapunzel’s anger slips loose. “How can you say that?!” Her hair whips around her. “He is a child dad!”

Her father drops his papers in his lap, pushing his glasses up to rest on his head. “He is unstable Rapunzel! He tried to kill you and the entire town because of his own mistake!”

“He did not! He got overwhelmed and lost control of his powers without realizing! Dad, _I_ do that. I did it twice today when we met the vikings! I’m doing it now!” Rapunzel retaliates.

“Rapunzel, your powers don’t hurt people, can’t hurt people. His can and did. We cannot place the lives of the townspeople in jeopardy because a child cannot control his own dangerous gifts!”

“And what about his life dad?!” Her hair has reached the floor by now, shining like a beacon. “His father is _dying_! Varian has no one to take care of him and he still has to manage the preserve!”

“Quirin should have taught him better!” Her father pinches his brow. “He brought his current condition on himself. It was Quirin’s own fault for not controlling his son.”

“Varian isn’t an animal, dad! You can’t ‘control’ him!” Rapunzel throws her hands out, exasperated with her father’s own ignorance, spilling the remaining water from her glass all over the floor.

“Honey!” Her mother says from her place on the couch. “Be careful!”

“No!” Rapunzel snarls in a way that’s so very unlike her, and turns on her father again. “I will not be careful. Being careful is what got us into this mess in the first place! How can you just leave them like that? Quirin was your friend! Varian was my friend! He was just a kid who didn’t know what he was getting into! We have to get help from someone and right now Chief Stoick is our best shot at--”

“I will not risk this trade agreement for that boy!” Her father yells and stands abruptly. Papers fly off of his lap and onto the carpet.

“If you won’t tell the Chief then I will! We do not need trade from Berk as much as Varian needs help!” She roars back, eyes and hair near blinding. Golden strands lash around the room, knocking things off of shelves and tables.

“You will not!” He orders, crossing his arms and staring her down. Now he’s head chairman of Corona, not her father. “I forbid you from speaking a word of this to any of the visitors. I will keep you from them if I must.”

Rapunzel flinches back. Her glowing eyes and hair wink out like a light. Tears pool under her eyelids.

“Frederic!” Her mother shouts.

Rapunzel fights back her tears with a wet sniff, clenching her fists and trying her hardest not to break down. She glares at her father. “Do you have any idea who you sound like right now?”

She can see when it hits him and he cringes. “Rapunzel, listen, I don’t mean to remind you of Gothel, but you need to understand how important these negotiations are.”

She ignores him as the first few tears start to fall. “Yeah, she used that same garbage excuse to keep me quiet too.” And then she’s turning on her heel and marching out of the living room. “I'm going out!” She yells back, slamming her glass down on the kitchen counter as she leaves, taking a moment to be thankful that it doesn’t break. Shoving the screen door open, she ignores her mother's protests from within the house and sprints down the street.

Ten minutes of running later, she sits with her knees to her chest on a bench at the edge of town, staring across the road into the forest. Tears still streak down her cheeks and her nails are biting into her arms where they’re wrapped around her legs. Two sets of footsteps click against the sidewalk and she doesn’t have to look to know who it is. Eugene and Cassandra sit down on either side of her.

“We heard the commotion from upstairs. You ok sunshine?” Eugene asks and reaches up to pet her hair.

“I don’t know.” she whispers, more tears tracing tracks down her face. Cass works to remove both of her hands from where they are digging into her arms, holding onto them tightly. “He won’t listen.”

“We know.” Cass murmurs, brushing her thumbs against the back of Rapunzel’s hands. “But he’ll have to eventually. I know you and I know you won’t give up on this one.”  
Rapunzel sniffles and turns her head to look at the both of them. “I just want everything to be ok.”

“It will be.” Eugene says, pulling her into a hug. Cass wraps her arms over his, encasing her between them. They let her cry for as long as she needs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really have no idea how to write Stoick's accent, forgive me god.


	3. Chapter 3

Hiccup lasts a total of one week before the urge to go deeper into the forest takes over and he and Toothless are flying over the vast expanse of green surrounding Corona. The day after they’d arrived Frederic had given them all a very long speech warning them to stay out of the woods and he’d honestly tried to keep himself busy, but by the sixth day he couldn’t stand the curiosity anymore. His self control was shit and he knew it. He’d left before everyone else woke this morning. Well, everyone but Astrid, who had been up training in the small yard that connected to the house they were staying in. She’d given him the most deadpan look when she caught sight of him through the back window. He’d responded with a sheepish thumbs up and made a beeline for the front door.

Green streaks by below them as they sweep forward. The morning air pulls at his hair and Hiccup relishes not having to wear his helmet to keep from getting too wind chapped. The warmer air makes flying infinitely more pleasant than on Berk, where he can’t go flying without at least two layers and the risk of his ears turning red from the cold.

He watches the trees as they speed past them, searching for any sign of life or movement beneath them. The forest expands for miles, covering the coast for as far as he can see. Further away, patches of forest open up, but they are too far for him to see anything clearly. He urges Toothless to fly faster, earning a snort from the dragon in response, but Hiccup can feel him pick up speed anyways. The wind whistles by his ears as they fly and his eyes water. It’s absolute bliss.

Over the crest of a hill far away, Hiccup catches sight of the rugged edge of what might be a canyon or a gorge. He reaches to adjust their course towards it but never gets the chance when Toothless’s head snaps in the opposite direction, his green eyes wide and searching. Their pace slows until they’ve stopped, Toothless’ wings flapping to keep them suspended in the air. His eyes remain trained somewhere in the trees, pupils shrinking to narrow slits the longer he looks.

“What’s up bud?” Hiccup asks, leaning down to rub the side of Toothless’ neck. His own eyes attempt to follow the dragon’s gaze but there's nothing but green and leaves. He’s glad for the clamps that hold him into the saddle when Toothless shoots forward, beating his wings like crazy. “Fucking- Toothless! Toothless stop, stop! Cut it out!”

Hiccup’s prosthetic rattles in its stirrup as he clicks through setting after setting on Toothless’s tail in an attempt to slow him down. An attempt that proves to be absolutely useless when Toothless folds in his wings and dives.

“SHIIIIIIIIIIIT!” And then they’re crashing through the trees and Hiccup is getting scratched to hell and Toothless is roaring and there’s something roaring back and someone else is screaming and Hiccup doesn’t have a clue what’s going on. A minute of writhing and Hiccup being thrown around like a rag doll later and Toothless stops, something big and hissing pinned under his talons. He dares a look over Toothless’ head once he no longer feels like he is going to die and regrets it as soon as he does, scrambling higher up in his saddle. The creature below has the head of a lion and a goat and is snarling up at Toothless. Its claws are scrambling for purchase against the dragon’s thick scales. A snake tail loops up and strikes at his legs and underbelly, making about as much headway as the animal's claws. Hiccup sucks in a breath and tightens his shaking hands around the handles of the saddle.

“Chimera…” he whispers, and he can’t tell if it’s in fear or awe.

“What in the _fuck_ are you doing?!” Someone yells to Hiccups right and he almost falls off Toothless, something which he’d really rather avoid at the moment if he can. There’s a boy standing a few yards from them. His black hair is a tangled rat's nest, and there’s an upturned bucket of what looks like raw meat spilled next to him. He looks about Hiccup’s age, but shorter than him by at least half a head. A pretty blue streak in his hair hangs in his face. He looks a mess, clothes ripped in a few places, covered in dirt, and _livid_.

“Uh…” Hiccup manages eloquently because this is definitely not how he expected this morning to go.

“Get your wretched beast off!” He says storming towards them.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! He bolted and I couldn’t make him stop!” Hiccup yells and frantically starts pulling on the handles of Toothless’ saddle because the other boy is getting way too close to the two animals having a pissing contest under him. He’s going to lose something if he gets in the middle of this mess. The pulling does nothing to dislodge Toothless from atop the chimera and he barely even acknowledges Hiccup's frantic attempts at hauling him off.

The boy ducks under Toothless’ wing, hooks both of his hands in the straps of the saddle and starts yanking him off of the chimera. “If you can’t control it, then maybe you shouldn’t be riding it!” He hisses and then grabs a hold of the Toothless’ sensors and tugs hard. It was enough to dislodge Toothless for a moment, but it’s enough to allow the chimera to wriggle out. The dragon snaps at its tail, roaring when the creature darts into the trees.

Toothless goes to chase after, but the other boy is suddenly in front of them and refuses to let the dragon past him. This boy is barely past five feet tall and stands his ground as if he isn’t staring down a thousand plus pound angry dragon. He’s got balls, Hiccup will admit, way more than he had when he’d first faced down Toothless. The dragon looks past the kid into the trees where the chimera has disappeared. Toothless takes a step forward and two back when the boy snarls like an animal himself. He glances up at Hiccup, unsure, his pupils going round as he does so. The boy raises his eyes up to meet Hiccup’s, and his glare is near glacial.

“What the hell is wrong with you?!” He pushes his hair out of his face, only for it to fall back into his eyes. “You and your feral lizard could have killed him! My job is tough enough without dumbass tourists flying in and ruining everything!”

“I-I’m sorry! I swear we didn’t mean to. He probably just thought you were in danger!”

“I was perfectly fucking fine until your stupid dragon,” he aims another look at Toothless, and the dragon ducks his head. “Decided to play apex predator and attack my animals.”

Hiccup twitches nervously. “Listen, he just hasn’t been around anything but other dragons before, he didn’t know any-”

“Guess what asshat? I don’t care. Learn to control your animal if you’re gonna keep it as a pet and get the hell out of my forest.” He says, brushing away the dirt from his clothes and walking back to the spilled bucket of meat. “Stay in town with the rest of the toddlers who don’t know their boundaries, and out of here. I don’t want to have to clean up your fucking corpse when you piss off the wrong creature.”

“But we didn’t-”

He turns on them again, and accidentally kicks the metal bucket into a tree when he does. The other boy isn’t moving, but it still feels like something is stalking towards them. The background buzz of the forest quiets. “You don’t belong here.” His voice is like ice. “Get. The Hell. Out.”

The hair on Hiccup’s arms stand on end and Toothless starts backing away. He doesn’t know how close to the ocean they are, but he swears he can almost hear the distant sound of waves crashing. A gust of wind carries the faintest smell of seawater through the trees and the boy’s eyes narrow.

Toothless makes a frantic bleating sound that Hiccup has never heard him make before, and rears back, stumbling over his own legs. Hiccup lurches in his saddle as Toothless spreads his wings and then they’re shooting up and out of the trees faster than when they’d crashed into them. Hiccup looks over his shoulder at the retreating forest, but Toothless is flying fast and they’re already too far away for him to pick out where they’d come out of. The boy is long lost in the denseness of the trees.

Hiccup turns back and clicks Toothless’s tail to fly higher. Once they’ve risen a few miles up, Hiccup can finally feel his shoulders start to relax from where they have bunched up to his ears. The stifling feeling has gone away, and out in the open air he no longer feels like the forest is going to eat them alive.

“What under the gods was that?” Hiccup asks the sky. Toothless gurgles at him and sweeps them a bit higher. Hiccup rubs the scales at his neck. “You alright there bud?”

Toothless grunts and wriggles under his saddle, making Hiccup shake along with him. He laughs. “Yeah me too.”

Hiccup raises his head and looks out towards the coastline. It will be an hour or two before they reach the town proper. “Probably best that we don’t tell anyone about this, huh?” He receives another grunt in response. As bizarre as that encounter had been, they still aren’t allowed in the forest, so it’s likely better that he cut his losses and not mention the chimera or the boy. He turns Toothless towards the ocean so they will come into town from the water and not raise suspicion.

…

Varian watches the dragon and his rider take off through the trees. He can see them flying up and up, away from the forest. “Careless idiot.” he says to himself.

When he can no longer see the dragon’s silhouette through the overarching branches, he straightens himself and leashes his power back in. He’d only used a little of it, but it still tingles when he releases his hold on the ocean. He hadn’t used enough for most of those in the town to realize he’d done it, but he hopes even the few who might won’t think anything of it. The less visits he gets from the people in Corona telling him to knock it off the better.

He sends one last glare at the sky and turns away, walking to pick up the bucket he'd kicked. He gathers up the slabs of raw meat that had spilled out, grimacing at the dirt covering them. The chimeras won’t eat it anymore, so he’ll have to leave it out for the goblins to scavenge. He’ll leave the bucket at the edge of the forest or them on his way home.

Stupid invasive adrenaline junkies, fucking things over for him and trying to get themselves killed. If the town doesn’t want him dragging back a body because some reckless dumbass decided it would be a great idea to go on a little adventure, then they should do a better job at keeping said reckless dumbasses out. They don’t want him in town, and he doesn’t want them here. The least they could do was leave him the hell alone and stay out of his forest.

He slings the bucket over his shoulder and whistles for Ruddiger, wherever the raccoon may be. There aren’t any big creatures around anymore so he won’t have to worry about him accidentally being eaten. A final survey of the surrounding trees and he starts to make his way out of the forest.

…

Rapunzel scrunches her nose and smears more blue paint onto her canvas. It doesn’t look right, everything’s too muddy and there’s colors missing but she can’t for the life of her figure out which ones. She’s been working for hours and the painting honestly looked better when it was blank. Grumbling, she switches brushes and goes back to scrubbing at a bit of the landscape.

In all honesty, she knows why it isn't coming out the way she wants. It had felt wrong since she’d sat down in the first place, but she needed to do something with herself other than aimlessly futzing around her room.

It’s been a week since the argument with her father, and in that time she’s kept her mouth shut. Unfairly, uncomfortably, painfully shut. Her father had decided that they were going to pretend the fight never happened, like he does every other time Varian has come up. He wanted to pretend that _everything_ hadn’t happened. Rapunzel can recognize that he was only trying to keep the peace, but she can’t abide by sentencing a boy to isolation and his father to death for it.

So, when she’d seen Hiccup sneaking off to the stables in the early hours of the morning, she kept quiet. When she saw him on Toothless flying up and out to the forest, she kept quiet. When she felt the slightest ripple of what she knew was Varian’s magic at breakfast, she kept quiet, and then stared at Cassandra long enough for her to do the same. When Hiccup had finally returned late in the morning, covered in small scrapes and looking more than a little unnerved, she kept quiet. When she caught his attention shifting back to the treeline again and again, she kept quiet. And she prays that it will be enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Varian's got a mouth on him in this fic (and most of the others I'm writing). He's responsible for at least 75% of all vulgarity in this.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have some...... feelings about how this chapter came out.

Cassandra hacks at a tree on the edge of the forest like it owes her something. It’s ludicrously hot out, and the physical exercise is only making it worse, but she needs to hit something. If it wasn’t a tree, it was Eugene, but then Rapz would get mad, even if the cocky bastard deserved it, so for now she’ll stick with the tree.

Things have been weird and it’s pissing her off. To be fair, most of life in Corona is weird, but this is a particular kind of unsettling weird. She’d nearly taken off Frederic’s head for what he’d said to Rapunzel the other night. Eugene had wisely talked her down from it, but it hadn’t stopped her from sending him some very nasty looks. And then, at breakfast yesterday, there had been that little burst of what she just knew was Varian’s magic, though Rapz had made her promise to keep quiet about it. Getting used to their new Viking visitors and their dragons hadn’t been the most stress relieving experience either. Nothing is really wrong though, which is maddening when she can’t shake the feeling that something is off.

She screams in frustration and drives her sword into the thick bark of the tree, sending splinters flying.

An impressed whistle comes from behind her. One of the blonde Vikings, Astrid if she remembers correctly, is standing a few feet from her with her massive ax strapped to her back. Cass likes her well enough, from what little she does know about her. She seems like she’s got a good head on her shoulders and Cass finds the way she pushes the other vikings around hilarious. Her and the Chief's son seem pretty tight, and they remind Cass a little of how she and Rapunzel used to act.

She’s surveying where Cassandra’s blade is lodged deep into the tree. “That’s a wicked swing you’ve got there.”

“Thanks.” Cass grunts and yanks her sword free. “I’ve been working on it for years. We’re not supposed to attack any of the creatures in the forest, but they’re magical animals. It’s a fool's hope to assume that things won’t ever go tits up.”

She nods. “We have a similar problem back on Berk. Hiccup wouldn’t kill a dragon if his life depended on it, and as much as I’d like to do the same, there are times where his giving nature isn’t always the most conducive. And when poachers inevitably come around to try and start shit, you can bet they aren’t going to play fair.”

Cassandra hums, adjusting her grip and going to swing again.

“You know,” the other woman starts, and Cass pauses with her sword hoisted over her shoulder. “If you need a sparring partner to wail out some of that anger on, I’m open to sling some hits back.”

Cassandra raises a brow in question. Usually it’s only Rapz and Eugene that are so well attuned to her emotions. She’s usually pretty standoffish, which is great for being left alone in a town that is way too friendly, but it’s rare for someone to actually look past that. “Who says I’m angry?”

Astrid offers her a raised brow. “I live on an island that’s infested with the most violent anger management issues known to man. No one swings like that unless they need an outlet for some pent up aggression.”

Cass allows her sword to rest at her side. She really hasn’t had someone to spar with in a while. Most people in town aren’t as interested in flinging weapons at each other as she is, and her adoptive father had laid down his sword a while ago. Yes, he’ll still spar if she asks, but it isn’t hard to tell that she’s passed the point of where he can keep up with her long ago. Eugene is out of the question because he whined too much when he lost, which is always. It would be nice to have a go at someone who could give just as good as they get. “Who says you can keep up?”

The other woman gives her a positively feral grin and unslings her ax. “Who says you can either?”

Cassandra feels a rush of adrenaline reverberate down her spine and. She hoists her sword and charges the other woman. Their blades crash, sparks fly, and Cass thinks that she may have finally found someone who isn’t a pretty little pacifist like everyone else in this town. Eugene is going to hate it.

…

“I hate this.” Eugene whines and slumps over Rapunzel. “There’s two of them and they’re going to kill me.”

“Eugene hush!” His girlfriend laughs and flicks him with her pencil. “Cass finally made a friend! We should be happy for her!”

Eugene rolls his head back to look at the two women seated a bench away from them, emphatically discussing weaponry. The angry looking blonde pulls a knife from her boot and he thinks he might have heard Cassandra squeal, which is _new_. “Sunshine, you could not pay me enough to feel happy for her. She wanted to kill me before, and now she has an accomplice who rides a fire breathing lizard. I’m doomed.”

“You are not doomed you big baby.”

“I would like to respectfully, but forcibly, disagree.” He groans and shifts over to lay his head in Rapunzel’s lap. She rolls her eyes and sets her sketchbook aside. “Why do they both have to threaten me?”

Rapunzel gives him an unimpressed look. “No one is threatening you, Eugene.”

“Isn’t the viking girl supposed to be marching after the Chief's scrawny kid?”

He watches his girlfriend’s brow furrow as she raises her gaze to where the edge of town should be. The top most branches of the forest trees can be seen poking over the houses. She worries her lip between her teeth.

“Blondie? You good, love?”

She shakes her head and leans down to kiss him. “Yean, I’m fine. Just thinking about what could change during the next few months. Cass made a friend, finally, and we thought that would never happen. With that, how could we not expect something else groundbreaking to happen while the riders are here.”

…

Hiccup is an idiot. A reckless, curious, idiot, and this is a very, very stupid idea.

Two days after the incident in the forest, he took Toothless out to fly and less than an hour later was guiding him back over the trees. If Astrid had known she would have throttled him. But she didn’t know, so he would thankfully remain un-throttled. For now.

They fly deeper into the forest and Hiccup scans the trees for any sign of the little alcove they’d crashed into. He absolutely should not be looking for it but the chimera was his first real brush with the animals living on the preserve and now he is hopelessly invested in finding more. And the boy they had managed to piss off seems like Hiccup’s best chance at learning more.

After an hour of searching, they still haven’t found anything. The trees are too dense, the leaves packed too tight to see much of anything under them. Even with Toothless’s heightened senses, there’s still nothing. Hiccup sighs and urges Toothless towards the glittering line of the shore that edges the forest instead.

They fly past the brink of the trees and out over the water, and Hiccup’s brows rise when he notices the dirt road that hugs the edge of the cliff side. It stretches on for miles, following the line of the trees for as far as he can see. He squints at the length of it while raising Toothless a little higher. They follow the road for a few miles until they round a corner and Toothless perks up, nostrils flaring. Hiccup lets him take control and sweep over the cliffs, guiding them down into a clearing just shy of the forest. There’s a beat up blue pickup truck that Hiccup hadn’t seen from up high parked halfway in the trees. The tailgate is down and the driver’s door is open.

Hiccup dismounts and creeps around the vehicle. There’s no one inside, but he can feel the heat radiating off of the truck and there’s a set of keys in the ignition. Nothing in the truck or in the clearing shows where the driver might have gone though.

Hiccup is pulled away from the truck when Toothless starts snuffling his way through the undergrowth. He debates leaving for half a second, but gives a resounding “fuck it” when Toothless disappears around a tree, and goes after his dragon.

The two of them trip over the forest floor, and then Toothless is bouncing through the trees like a puppy. Hiccup strains his ears until he hears rustling ahead and then a “Listen here you twiggy fuck-”. He wiggles through a thicket of bushes and then Hiccup is facing an ancient oak tree. There’s a wobbling metal ladder propped against it and the boy from the clearing is swearing vehemently atop it. He’s got his arms shoved in a hole in the trunk of the oak and looks about ready to set the whole thing ablaze.

Toothless, of course, bounds right up to the ladder like the dumb reptile he is. Hiccup lurches forward to stop him before he can make a mess, inevitably a second too late when the dragon stands on his hind legs and shoves his head directly into the boy’s face to sniff at him. Hiccup cringes at the shrill “What the fuck?!” he earns in response. The already shaky ladder jerks threateningly as the boy tries to place distance between himself and Toothless.

“Shit sorry, sorry!” Hiccup hurries to apologize, racing forward to balance the ladder beneath the other boy. He jumps again at the sound of Hiccup’s voice, swinging his head to look down at him. Hiccup watches recognition flicker over his features before he fixes him with a glare, “Oh brilliant, so the tourist is back. I thought I told you to stay out.”

Hiccup resists the urge to take his hand off of the ladder and scratch nervously at the back of his neck. “Sorry, we got… lost?”

The boy rolls his eyes, “Bullshit.” he turns back to the hollow in the tree, trying and failing to maneuver around Toothless. “Get your beast to move. I’ll deal with you two in a minute.”

“Uh, sure.” Hiccup gives Toothless a short whistle and gets him to come down, shooing him away with his foot when the dragon goes to paw at the legs of the ladder. He looks back up at the kid, who’s again busying himself with what's inside the tree. Up close, Hiccup can hear a furious squeaking coming from the hole in it. Whatever is making the noise is evidently not at all pleased with what’s happening, if he can assume anything from the litany of swears coming from the boy above him. “Can I… Do you need help with anything?”

“ _I_ need _you_ to be quiet,” The boy says and goes back to cussing out whatever creature he’s wrestling with . A few minutes of profanities and wobbling dangerously on the ladder later, he finally comes down from the hold in the tree.

Hiccup clears his throat awkwardly while the other boy snaps the ladder shut. He gets a glare in response and the other boy starts heading back through the tangle of trees. Toothless wiggles and begins to trot after him, and Hiccup follows them both.

“Listen,” the kid says, grunting under the weight of the ladder. “I’d love to be able to not give a damn about what you do around here and let you and your scaly cat run off and get yourselves killed in here, but legally I have to care. This preserve is under the jurisdiction of the Corona Council, and since it’s my job to take care of it, so am I. Therefore, if an outsider gets hurt or killed in the parts of the preserve that aren’t open to the public, which is damn near all of it, that falls on my head. Even worse if one of the creatures under my watch gets injured because of it. If you want to die so badly, go do it somewhere where I can’t be sued.”

Hiccup cocks his head, “ So you’re the caretaker?”  
They’ve reached the edge of the forest now, and Hiccup can see the faded blue of the pickup truck through the branches.

“Essentially.” The other boy grunts as he yanks the ladder through the last remaining bit of underbrush and hauls it to the back of the vehicle. Hiccup follows behind

“And you manage it alone?”

“Yes.”

“Doesn’t being a preserve caretaker require years of training?” The boy nods an affirmative, shoving the ladder into the bed of the truck. “Aren’t you a little young to be managing this whole preserve.”

Hiccup doesn’t miss the way that the boy’s shoulders tense. The kid slams the tailgate shut and turns on him. “And? I’m fully trained and I can get by just fine.” he hisses and prods a finger against Hiccup’s chest. “And my qualifications do not concern the person who can’t follow the simplest goddamn rule. Just because you have a big scary lizard doesn’t mean you are in any way licensed to go on a joyride through my forest. I hate to break it to you asshole, but there are bigger things than dragons out here. The preserve isn’t a playground, so you, and your pet, are going to stay out of it.”

Hiccup holds his hands up in surrender, backing himself and Toothless up. “Duly noted.” He says because the other boy is right in his face and Hiccup can see the bags under his eyes and the freckles dotting his nose and cheeks. The hair on the back of Hiccup’s neck stands on end.

“Good.” And then the boy is leaning away and climbing into the driver's seat of the truck. Hiccup watches him turn the keys in the ignition, back up and drive away without even glancing back at him and Toothless.

Hiccup tries to tell himself that he won’t come back as he hooks himself back into Toothless’s saddle and urges him into the sky, but he knows full well that he’s just bullshitting himself. He’ll be living next to a big spooky forest filled with magical creatures for three plus months, there’s no way he’s not gonna try to go in again. Sure, there’s a surly, underaged, caretaker, but hey, the boy basically has the same temperament as Astrid used to and Hiccup made her warm up to him eventually. Plus, Toothless seems to like the kid.

…

Sure, Varian is rarely in a good mood anymore, but he feels distinctly pissy by the time he gets back to the lighthouse. He hits the brakes perhaps a bit harder than necessary when he parks the truck next to the house. There’s not much in there of value and it’s not like anyone ever comes around to steal anything, so he leaves the keys in the ignition and jumps out.

He makes his way through his poorly made garden to the front door of the lighthouse. Ruddiger is napping in the shredded rocking chair on the porch and he lifts his head as Varian gets closer. “Hey Rudd.” He gives the raccoon a gentle scratch under the chin, waiting for him to clamber up his shoulder before heading into the house.

“That idiot with the dragon came back again today.” He says mindlessly to Ruddiger, earning a curious chitter in response. Varian kicks off his shoes by the door, and makes his way into the kitchen. He rummages through the fridge for leftovers from god only knows when, taking out a tupperware from the back and closing the door.

“Told him to fuck off, but I have a sneaking suspicion that he’ll be back to make a mess again.” Varian grumbles while he gathers his food and moves to leave the kitchen. “Thinks just because he has an oversized gecko that he can go wherever he wants. Thinks he’ll be just fine because he’s got a big old powerful pet, right? Nothing bad could ever happen as long as he’s got a dragon around!”

He walks into the main room of the house and allows his eyes to catch on the closed door on the other side of it. A sour taste grows in the back of Varian’s mouth the longer he looks. Eventually, he marches his way past the door and up the lighthouse stairs to his room. “Just because you're strong doesn’t mean you're untouchable. That’s not how power works.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are starting to happen!

Hiccup pointedly ignores the prodding looks Astrid gives him the next two days.

In lieu of dealing with his best friend's thinly veiled judgement, he opts to escape midday and nose around the town. It’s so different from Berk here, brighter and a heck of a lot warmer. Hiccup may not be a magic user himself, but he likes to think that even he can feel the thrum of it in this town. At Berk, the evidence of the unnatural is fairly obvious, what with giant winged beasts flying above at all hours of the day and night. Here, there are less actual creatures living in the town itself, but the place just seems to breathe magic. Sure there’s fairies and small sprites buzzing practically everywhere, and the sight of those with magic using their gifts is a common occurrence, but it feels like it goes way deeper than that. It’s not just the people in the town that make it feel that way, it’s the place itself. Granted, that could be the result of its close proximity to one of the biggest and oldest magical preserves in the world.

Hiccup makes his way through the cobblestone streets aimlessly. He’s turning a corner and then he’s at the edge of town and staring at trees, again. He lets out an amused huff because of course he’s back at the forest, even when he hadn’t actually meant to come here. Looking into the dense branches and underbrush, Hiccup can feel the same creeping sense that the forest is trying to suck him in he’d felt when he’d first arrived Corona. His usual urge to go in despite the warnings is also still there, because Hiccup still doesn’t know nearly as much about what’s in there as he’d like to. But Toothless isn’t with him, and after the chimera, Hiccup isn’t even remotely interested in going in there alone. He could probably whistle for him but it’s the middle of the day and the likelihood of someone noticing them going in is far too high. He'll have to make due with just looking in from a distance.

So he opts to trail allong the edge of the forest, watching the trees for anything that moves. He is left woefully disappointed and the forest stays just as still and quiet as it has been.

He’s still looking intently into the greenery when he reaches the point where the trees meet the cliffs leading to the beach, and thus almost misses the dirt road peeking out from behind a thick cluster of trees. His brows raise. Weird, he hadn’t noticed any other entrances to the forest. Against his better judgement, Hiccup moves through the small path of trees. He reaches the road and realizes that it does not in fact lead into the forest like he’d initially thought. Instead it only skirts around the trees and the curves off into the distance, bordering the cliffs.

It looks like the road he’d seen while riding Toothless two days before. Hiccup feels the corners of his mouth pick up in a smile. He’s got a sneaking suspicion of where this leads and starts down it, the sound of the sea crashing below him trickling up the cliffs.  
…

Varian is dumping bottles of ingredients into the barrels lined up by the porch of the lighthouse. A table of beakers and instruments bubble away on a table a few feet from him. His hair is tied back into a sloppy ponytail to keep it out of his face, but it’s working about as successfully as it usually does, which is to say, not at all. Sweat is dripping down his neck and his leather gloves feel sticky on his hands.

He’s blending together the weekly concoction of food for the creatures on the preserve. Many of them are more than capable of managing their own food, but there are some special cases that he has to account for. The unicorns for one are picky as all hell and there are a few beasts in the forest that have pre-existing injuries that Varian has to medicate through their food. He’s got about five more barrels of food to mix individually after these ones and then he has to get them all into the truck, a task that never proves to be easy on his own.

He’s measuring out the necessary amount of a powder into the barrel meant for the gryphins when he hears the telltale scrabbling of Ruddiger’s tiny paws on the side of the house. He must be coming down from his nap on the roof. Varian is pulled away from his work when the raccoon comes bouncing over to him at top speed, chittering furiously and winding his way through Varian’s legs.

“Ey, Rudd cut it out!” Varian squawks and tries not to dump too much of the green tinted powder he’s working with into the barrel. “Do not make me mess this up, I don’t have enough of this stuff to make another batch yet.” Ruddiger ignores him and continues running around his legs. Varian looks down at him disapprovingly, ready to set down his ingredients and move the raccoon out of the way himself when he hears the crunching of footsteps. His head jerks up at the sound and he looks around at the front yard of the lighthouse. There’s no one there but then he sees a mop of brown hair come around the bend of the road that leads into town and Varian almost dunks himself in the barrel of food he’s making. It’s the fucking dragon kid, sans dragon.

The boy perks up when he catches sight of Varian and he smiles and waves at him. Varian wants to kill him for it. He’s really not too thrilled to have this idiot stranger this close to his house. He drops the jar that he’s been holding on the table with a growled ‘motherfucker’ as the other boy jogs over to where Varian now stands with his arms crossed. Varian snarls at him, “Would you look at that, the reckless dragon rider is back, despite being very specifically told to stay out. Do you have a death wish?”

The boy gives him a cocky grin that Varian very much does not like and stops a few feet from him. “Ah, ah, ah! You said to stay out of the forest. This technically isn’t the forest, so I’m not in trouble yet.” he says gesturing around to the lighthouse and the road behind him. Varian feels like smacking him.

“Oh lovely, a dumbass _and_ a smartass.” Varian hisses and absolutely hates how it only seems to make the bastard’s grin grow wider.

“You’re not nearly the first one to say so.”

“Well you should listen to whoever else does because they are right.” Varian grumbles and turns back to his barrel of gryphin chow because he has entirely too much stuff to do today and absolutely no time for any of this guy’s bullshit.

To his never ending annoyance, the boy doesn’t take Varian ignoring him as a hint to fuck right off and instead pokes his nose around Varian’s shoulder while he tries to get back to work. “What’s all this you’re making?” He asks, looking into the barrels and wrinkling his nose at the smell.

“Food for some of the creatures at the preserve, keep your sticky hands off.” He grunts as he measures out more ingredients.

“Fascinating.” And Varian tries not to think too hard about how he actually sounds like he means it.

“Yes,” Varian says, drawing out the s and trying to maneuver around the roadblock that the other teenager has made himself into. “And incredibly difficult and time consuming, so I’d much appreciate it if you’d kindly leave me be.”

The boy is pouting now and it’s so fucking irritating. “But I came all the way up here.”

Varian rolls his eyes so hard it hurts. “Who said you should even be ‘all the way up here’ in the first place, hmm? The forest is literally right fucking there,” he juts his thumb at the treeline that borders the front yard. “Just because you’re not actually in it doesn’t mean that something won’t come out of it. It’s still dangerous and you still shouldn't be here.”

“Aha but you’re here!” And that stupid grin is back. “And if you’re here then it really can’t be all that unsafe.”

Varian is going to shove this guy off of the lighthouse balcony. “I _live_ here asshole! And if you remember, I’m fully trained to handle both myself and the preserve!” He says, even if it isn’t completely true. His dad only got so far in his training before things went to shit.

The other boy leans his arms on the edge of the barrel and gives Varian a lazy smirk from across it. “Even better then, that means that there’s really no place safer than right here with you. And you wouldn’t want to send me off alone now knowing how very dangerous it is, that would be neglectful of you as caretaker.”

“Excuse- What?!” This man, this fucking man, is officially the most infuriating person Varian has ever met in his life. “You got yourself all the way here!”

“Ah, ah, ah, but what if something were to happen to helpless little me on the way back? You said the other day that if someone got hurt in the forest, it would fall on your shoulders. So I might as well just stay here hmm? I’m only following your instructions o’ wise caretaker.”

Varian can feel his face going red and he is so very pissed, but the boy is right and Varain knows it. If he forces him to go back now, even though the risk is really non-existent (the road and house are warded after all), he could still end up telling someone that Varian had sent a newcomer with no experience back to town alone. He knows how the town sees him and if even one person hears a bad word about him there’s no doubt it will make it back to the council. Varian has worked far too hard to keep his claim on the job of caretaker despite his age and incomplete teaching, and he’s not about to lose it because of this imbecile. “Fine.” Varian snarls. “But if you’re staying, you’re helping.”

“Gladly!” The other boy says, and Varian doesn’t like how pleased he sounds. He slides his way around the barrel of gryphin food.

Varian rolls his eyes and chucks a spare pair of his gloves at him. “Put those on.” He turns to the table of chemicals behind him. “I trust you know how to use a measuring cup?”

“I’m not completely dense you know.”

“Could have fooled me.” Varian mumbles. “Dump three cups of that grey-ish slimy stuff into that barrel, do not let any of it touch your skin, got it?”

An affirmative humm comes from next to Varian, way to close for his liking. “No problem.”

The other boy starts scooping out the sludge into the barrel and Varian adjusts the flow of chemicals in the vials he’s been preparing. They work in blessed silence for a few minutes, only broken when Varian directs him to put new measurements of ingredients into the barrel of food.

“You know,” the boy starts, stirring the contents of the barrel. “Now that we’re working together, it might be nice to know the name of the person I’m working with.”

Varian looks up from where he’s measuring out different herbs into the mix. It’s wildly irritating how familiar this guy is acting after only meeting Varian less than a week ago. Varian barely knows this boy, and he’s not really interested in changing that. He hesitates though. If this stranger does in fact tell anyone else that he’s been up here, everyone in town knows his name more than well enough. Any description of him and the townspeople will know exactly who this boy is talking about. It’s not like he won’t find out eventually. “It’s Varian.” He says, blowing the errant blue streak in his bangs out of his eyes, and goes back to scooping out herbs from the bags in front of him. “And we’re not working together.”

The other teen gives the barrel a few more stirs and then places the spoon on the table. “Hiccup.”

Varian grunts noncommittally and continues his measurements. The other boy, Hiccup, stands there for a moment like he’s waiting for a real response. Varian refuses him the satisfaction of one. He doesn’t care who he is, as long as when they’re done here he leaves Varian alone.

Even so, Varian isn’t as surprised as he probably should be when Hiccup does in fact come back the next day, dragon in tow. And then again the day after that.


	6. Chapter 6

Frederic wakes up like he always does. Calm breeze floating in through the window, his wife still sound asleep next to him and a quiet house. He gives Arianna a gentle kiss, like he always does, and gets up with a groan.

He shuffles down the hall and turns on the Keurig in the kitchen. While the water heats up he listens for any sound on the above floor of the house. It’s quiet up there too, Rapunzel and her partners must not be up yet. That’s good then, his daughter so rarely gets enough good sleep. She’s got too much energy, he thinks fondly for the hundredth time. The Keruig starts to bubble coffee into his cup and Frederic reaches for the fridge to get his creamer.

Down the hall he hears Arianna’s alarm go off and her responding groan. She’ll turn it off and won’t get up until at least the fourth alarm, or until Frederic nudges her out of bed.

He’s got a meeting with the council today. Mostly just the usual check in. They’ll discuss their export rates and the economy, first for the town then globally. They’ll get off track and someone will mention lunch and they’ll say their goodbyes and agree to meet next week. Frederic will offer to help chairman Sawyer with some of his paperwork. He'll make time for Stoick and they’ll talk about the trade negotiations and their kids and their lives.

This is how Frederic likes his mornings. A quiet house, his little town starting to wake up, his day ahead of him. Just like this, peaceful.

…

“Drop that and I’ll kill you.”

Hiccup snorts even as he tries not to overbalance under the weight of the crate he’s carrying. “That’s the eighth death threat you’ve made today and haven’t followed through with. Forgive me if I don’t take them seriously anymore.”

“I will end you.” Varian says from the bed of the truck.

“And there’s number nine.” Hiccup grunts as he loads the crate he’s holding into the truck by the other boy’s feet. Varian flips him off and shoves the crate next to the other’s they’ve already piled in. Hiccup rolls his eyes and goes to get the next one. “Remind me why you’re not helping me carry these?”

Varian humms from where he’s shuffling around the crates in the truck. “Because for as long as you choose to harass me, I choose to use you as free labor. Besides,” He shoots Hiccup a mocking grin. “Weren’t you the one who said you wanted to help.”

“Yeah,” He huffs while he lifts another crate. “I said help, not do all the work.”

“Whiny, whiny, whiny. You test my patience, so I test how much work I can make you do before you decide to leave me alone.”

“Mhm, right.” He shoves another crate into the truck. “And if I’m such an annoyance, then why haven’t you reported me yet? You could just waltz yourself right into town and get the head chairman to make me leave.”

He watches Varian stop halfway through pushing the new crate to the back of the truck. There’s a quiet pause and then he sighs. “The people in Corona and I don’t exactly see eye to eye. I’m not really the most popular figure. I’m not sure they’d take kindly to me publicly telling a tourist to fuck off,” He looks back at Hiccup before moving to push the crate again. “Even if it’s deserved.”

Hiccup watches him shove the crates around for a minute. “Can I ask why not?”

“Misunderstanding a while ago, one I don’t feel like trying to fix.” He kicks a crate into a corner with a bit too much force for the clinking glass jars inside of it. “And more importantly, it’s one that’s none of your damn business.”

Hiccup raises his hands in surrender and makes the executive decision to go get another crate. Astrid may say that he’s oblivious fifty percent of the time, but he can at least recognize when to let something be. “Just asking. Didn’t mean to prod. Your business is your business.”

He can hear the sneer in Varian’s voice. “Yeah we’ll see how long that lasts you nosy motherfucker.”

“Ey!” Hiccup protests, even though the other boy is kind of right. “I’ll have you know I am a very well mannered person who would never poke his nose into something he’s not supposed to.”

“Accept that you’re only here in the first place because you did just that.” Varian says with what is possibly the most dead panned look Hiccup has ever seen.

“I was gathering information for a personal inquiry about the forest that I’ll be living next to for the next few months!” Hiccup says even though he knows it’s complete bullshit and that he was, in fact, being nosy. “You could say I was only doing field research.”

“Illegally.” Varian reminds him.

“Semantics.”

“Do you _want_ me to feed you to the harpies?”

“Aha!” He laughs. “There’s threat ten, and it’s barely noon!”

“Fuck you Hiccup.” He watches Varian turn to the crates in the truck before going back to the ones that still have to be loaded in. So Varian might have a bit of a checkered past, but so does like, half of the people he knows. It’s not going to stop Hiccup from coming up here, and like he said, it’s none of his business.

…

“Okay, okay, hold that there for a sec.” Varian tells Hiccup before grabbing the cheap battery powered soldering iron from one of the many pockets on his work apron. Hiccup dutifully holds the mess of wires in the machine out of the way as he gets to work on connecting the new ones to the tiny circuit he’s just installed.

“This seems kind of like a safety hazard, having all these loose wires knocking around in here.” His ‘assistant’ says above him.

Varian doesn’t even spare him a glance as he connects the next wire. “Theoretically, yes. But when I first made this I didn’t have the materials to attach each one to the walls of the electrical box. Still don’t. Notice how all the wires smell kind of sour, like a wet washcloth you leave in the sink for too long?”

“Yeah, a bit.”

“I covered them and the whole box in a chemical that prevents fires. If a wire snaps, or gets too tangled in that mess you’re holding, the chemical should react with the excess electricity and freeze everything before it can catch fire.” He solders the last one he needs to the circuit and clicks it into the little hooks he’s stuck to the bottom of the box. “You can set that down now.”

Varian stands while Hiccup nestles the pile of wires he’d been holding back into the electrical box. Varian snaps the lid of it shut.

“How do you know when the chemical activates and freezes everything?”

Pushing the thick goggles protecting his eyes up and onto his forehead, Varian points at a little bulb on the side of the machine. “The temperature that the chemical freezes at get’s cold enough to break the glass of that, and sets off an alarm that’s hooked to a little switchboard I have back a the lighthouse.”

Hiccup whistles from beside him. “Nice.”

Varian chooses not to acknowledge the compliment and instead moves to the side of the machine to flick a switch that has it rumbling to life.

“Oh! And it actually works!” Hiccup says, and Varian really doesn’t like how surprised he sounds about it.

“Of course it fucking works. I put weeks of work into this thing and it’s been running fine for almost a year. You think I’d come all the way out here to adjust something that doesn't work? I know what I’m doing Hiccup.” He hisses as he gathers up the few tools he’s left on the ground.

“I never said you didn’t!”

Varian starts walking back towards where the truck is parked at the edge of the little clearing they’re in. He shoves his work gloves into his back pocket and pulls out the hair tie that’s been holding the mess of his hair out of his face. “Kind of implied it though asshat.”

“Hey, all those wires and put together parts just seemed a little unstable.” Hiccup tries to defend.

“Awful lot of talk coming from someone who hasn’t even seen an impact wrench in his life.” Varian prods while he flings his extra tools and apron into the passenger seat. He absolutely refused to let Hiccup ride in the truck with him, he’s not going to waste gas on someone who can just fly.

“Actually,” And Varian turns to find the other boy leaning against the door. “I have. I built Toothless’ tail, Varian. You’re not the only mechanic here.”

“Sorry, but you built what?” Because last he checked, Varian was fairly certain that the scaly black creature the boy called a pet was in fact a living animal and not a machine.

Hiccup whistles and his dragon’s head perks up from where he’s been rolling around in the grass with Ruddiger. Varian had nearly taken both the beast and his rider’s head clean off when he had first gone after Ruddiger, until Hiccup had managed to convince him that they were only playing and that Toothless wasn’t actually trying to eat the raccoon. The overgrown lizard bounds towards its master and Varian ducks to avoid getting hit by an errant wing. He’s come to the conclusion that dragons are not nearly as elegant as textbooks make them out to be, because this one is about as graceful as a newborn deer. Hiccup gives the giant brute a gentle scratch under the chin and then moves around to the tail that’s swishing in the grass. Varian isn’t sure he really wants to be behind this absurd excuse for a dragon, but he does follow him, against his better judgement.

“This isn’t the first tail I made, I had to toss the old one. But, this one works a whole lot better.” Hiccup crouches next to the red fin that’s attached to the black scales of the dragon’s tail. Varian isn’t really sure how he managed to miss it when the leather is such a bright color, but to be fair, he’d made a point of ignoring the giant animal. It’s well made, Varian can definitely tell that much, and he doesn’t even realize that he’s leaned down to get a closer look. Now that he’s here though, well made might be a bit of an understatement. The fin is _beautiful_. Each piece must have been custom made with how smoothly it moves when Hiccup opens and closes it, explaining what every one does. The joints and gears in it barely make a sound and they’re all so very small he wonders how they don’t snap when the dragon is flying. Though he’s loath to admit it, Varian so badly wants to take it apart and see exactly how it works. It’s made so differently than anything he’s ever done, everything so clean and even and perfect. It’s a skill Varian has never really been able to learn. All of his machines are crooked and misshapen. Sure they work, but it’s not like they’re the most visually pleasing. Alchemy is where Varian tends to excel in that regard.

“You can touch it if you want.” Hiccup says across from him. Varian snaps his head up. Hiccup nod’s pointedly down at the hand he hadn’t noticed was hovering over the shiny gears. Varian snatches it back and tucks it into his pocket.

“Yeah, no thanks. I’m not interested in getting my arm bitten off.”

“You know he doesn’t bite unless I tell him to, right? And he likes you, so you’re more than safe.”

“Tell that to the fish I saw him go after while you were flying.” Varian trains his attention back on the tail. “How’d he lose it?”

He catches Hiccup flinch out of the corner of his eye. When he looks at him, there’s an odd hunch to his shoulders. “Accident.”

Varian raises a brow but chooses to drop it. “Hmm, and what was wrong with the first tail?”

Evidently that was the wrong thing to ask because the dip in the dragon rider’s shoulders only deepens and he still refuses to meet Varian’s eyes. “Caught fire. Another accident.”

Varian watches Hiccup’s hand come down to brush against this metal prosthetic.

Oh.

He clears his throat awkwardly. Varian can barely handle his own past, and he doesn't know Hiccup nearly well enough to dig into his. Christ he’s not equipped for this. “Well, it looks… good.” And at least that get’s Hiccup to raise his head a little. “Maybe you’re not as useless with mechanics as I thought you were. Maybe.”

He ignores the stupid grin Hiccup gives him and goes back to packing his things into the truck.

…

He’s well aware that he doesn’t need to be here. Varian doesn’t need his help today, and unfortunately doesn’t trust him enough to let him do anything on his own.

Hiccup is slouched over the end of the table on the porch of the lighthouse, watching Varian tinker away at the fizzing bottles of chemicals in front of him. It’s fascinating to watch him work. The liquids in the vials change colors so fast Hiccup has long since stopped trying to keep track as Varian measures, pours, heats and stirs one beaker into another over and over again. He barely looks at the chemicals he’s grabbing when he dumps them together, and Hiccup doesn’t know how he’s keeping track of what is what when each one has been mixed with something else at least 8 separate times. Varain works so delicately too. Hiccup hasn’t seen so much as a drop of anything hit the table yet. He’s working wicked fast, but none of the glasses have been broken or knocked over. He assumes it must be something along the lines of witchcraft because Hiccup can’t even grab a tool in his workshop back at Berk without everything else crashing down around him.

A beaker to Varian’s left starts smoking from where it’s hovering over a bunsen burner. The smoke keeps getting thicker the longer the chemical sits over the flame but Varian isn’t even looking at it. Hiccup is about to ask him if he knows it’s happening, because surely that much smoke can’t be good, when the beaker flashes white. There’s a loud pop that makes Hiccup jump and let out a startled “Shit!”, and now the beaker is really smoking. Varian, the bastard, doesn’t even flinch.

“Hiccup, don’t shake the table.” Varian says while he removes the beaker from the burner and sticks a stopper in the top of it. He gives it a quick shake and then sets it off to the side.

“Varian,” Hiccup mutters from where he’s crawled up into his chair. “That just exploded, the fuck do you want me to do?”

Varian levels a look at him, even though he’s wearing his goggles and Hiccup can barely see his eyes in the glare that reflects off the glass. “I want you to not shake the table.”

Hiccup grumbles and opts to stand and move around to where Varian is working instead of sitting back down. “And what exactly are we making here Mr. Mad Scientist?”

“If I tell you it’s poisonous will you leave me be?” He says and smacks Hiccup’s hand away from where he is reaching to pick up one of the many bottles. “Don’t touch.”

“Is it really?” Hiccup asks and leans over Varian’s workspace.

“It is if you ingest it, and please don’t. You’re already too intent on killing yourself.”

“Aw, but I thought you wanted me dead.”

“Hiccup,” Varian says and pours the chemical he’s been working with into another vial. “You are the one who wants you dead. You play with giant killer reptiles and go parading through dangerous magical forests. I am not giving you a chemical to help in your endless suicide mission.”

Hiccup laughs above him. “I should let you know that I saved an entire archipelago and ended centuries of fighting between dragons and Vikings because I went after something dangerous.”

He watches Varian pause for a moment before he blows an errant strand of hair out of his eyes and carries on working. “Shocking, you’re not a complete disaster. But I do find it a bit suspect that you, you walking disaster, could do that much.”

“I’m serious! Google it.”

“Bold of you to assume I care enough to.”

“Aww, careful Varian, you’ll hurt my feelings.” Hiccup teases.

“That’s entirely the point.”

“Ouch.”

“Hiccup, honestly,” and then Varian is looking up at him with an upward tilt of his mouth that never means good things for him. “You can tame as many beasts as you want, but if you honestly want to impress me, then you should try not bothering me while I work. You’re blocking my light, shoo.”

Hiccup makes a noise of indignation, but Varian has already gone back to his chemicals. He grumbles and moves back around the table to dutifully plop himself in his chair and pout.

…

He knows the steps here well enough to not slip on his way down to the beach. Hiccup, however, does not, and Varian really doesn’t appreciate being fallen on.

“Sorry.” Hiccup says the second time he steps in a puddle and nearly sends them both careening down the rocky stairs.

“Yeah, you say that and yet you still won’t watch where you’re walking.” He grumbles and rubs his arm where he’d been shoved into the rocks bordering the steps.

Hiccup throws his hands up. “I have a limp! I can watch where I put my feet as much as I like and I’ll still fall flat on my ass.”

“Mhm, and if you run into me again I’ll give you another one.”

“With those noodle arms? I’d love to see you try.”

Varian ignores him in favor of making it the rest of the way down to the beach before Hiccup can crash into him again. The sand is damp here under the shadow of the lighthouse above and squishes under the heel of his sneakers. There’s a rickety old shed shoved into the rocks of the cliffside that really should not still be standing. Varian fishes out the key from the back pocket of his jeans to unlock it and then goes about rifling through the larger tools packed into the damp space.

“There is no way that this is a safe place to put anything.” Hiccup says and pokes his head over Varian’s shoulder.

“You’re not wrong, as astonishing a development as that is,” Hiccup shoves his shoulder and Varian aims a half hearted kick at his shin. “Most of the tools I need are back up at the house, but down here is where I keep some of the stuff that I don’t need to drag out as often and won’t get damaged by the tides.”

Varian flicks seaweed off of a pile of pipes at the back of the shed. He tries not to knock them to the ground when he reaches behind them and pulls out a pile of thick black tubing. He hands it off to Hiccup. “Hang on to that would you?”

“Oh gross, Varian why is it slimy?”

Varian does very little to hide his pleased smile while he shuffles around the shed to grab an extra bucket filled with sockets and a water purifier that’s been shoved into the corner. “It’s from the excess salt and algae buildup.”

“And we need it, why?”

Varian turns to Hiccup with a look of absolute glee. “Hiccup my dear, you’re going to help me empty out an infected bog.”

“Gee thanks,” he says and Varian watches him hold the tubing farther away from himself. “I feel so honored.”

Varian shrugs and locks up the shed. “You were the one who was so maddeningly insistent on helping.”

“This is not what I meant.”

“Boohoo deal with it.” Varian shifts the things in his arms as a gust of wind comes sweeping in from the ocean waves. It carries the scent of salt and brine and fish with it and Varian inhales it on instinct. It wraps his senses in a comforting blanket of ocean and sends his magic tingling under his skin. God he wishes he could just leave Hiccup and the millions of chores he has to do today and sink as far under the waves as he can.

He turns to Hiccup only to find his focus similarly on the waves rolling onto the beach. He catches Varian’s eye and he has this curious look on his face that Varian is learning means questions that he usually doesn't want to answer. “Hey, as caretaker, do you know anything about what’s out there? When I researched the preserve, I found a lot about the forest and Corona, but couldn’t really find much on the ocean.”

Varian feels the gentle buzz of the ocean in his head go silent. The waves shift the slightest, cresting and falling over themselves heavier. He schools his face into as neutral an expression as he can manage. “There wouldn’t be anything for you to find in the first place. The water is pretty uninhabited.”

Hiccup finally looks away from the ocean and Varian thinks he looks almost disappointed. “So there really is nothing out there?”

Varian straightens and turns away from the waves, gripping the equipment in his arms tighter. He makes his way up the shore to the stone steps again, keeping his eyes resolutely on the cliffs and not the wash of blue behind him. The action makes his heart ache and his magic hiss. “Nothing.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> He's just trying to help Varian, you don't have to be so mean.


	7. Chapter 7

The vikings have been here for just over two weeks and Rapunzel thinks she’s finally gotten used to seeing them in the streets or the skies. It’s new having such big creatures roaming around town. Most of the larger animals stay in the preserve and don’t tend to wander. Corona also isn’t really built to accommodate them, and Rapunzel is endlessly thankful that the Vikings tame dragons, not any other creature, and can just fly somewhere if they need more space.

Rapunzel likes having them here. They make her already busy little town even busier. She knows Cass hates all the extra energy, she already dislikes Corona’s normal level of eccentricity, but she’s put up with this so far. And it really doesn't hurt that her and Astrid have taken to each other so well. She thinks it’s adorable how fast her girlfriend has gotten close to the Viking, even if Cass will vehemently deny it every time she or Eugene brings it up. Eugene’s still terrified of the both of them, of most of the Vikings really, despite Rapunzel telling him countless times that he’s not going to be set on fire by one of the dragons or have his head taken off by a battleaxe.

Presently, she’s making her way down the boardwalk by the cliffs, breathing in the mingling scent of the street vendors and the ocean below. She’s usually more than glad to be around her significant others, around people in general, but it’s nice to have this little bit of space for her thoughts. To wander and get distracted and not have anyone yell at her for it.

Ahead of her, there’s someone sitting at one of the many picnic tables on the boardwalk. The glare of the sun setting behind them makes it hard to tell who it is. She’s content to ignore them until she gets close enough to see that it’s Hiccup sitting there, scribbling away in a worn leather journal. She really hasn’t seen much of him the past few days, the past week really, and she has a pretty good suspicion of why.

He’s not paying attention, and upon closer inspection it’s probably because of the earbuds he’s got in, so Rapunzel’s able to approach without him noticing. As much as she knows it’s impolite, she looks over his shoulder at what he’s working on. There’s a mess of sketches showing all manner of mechanics and calculations written in a chicken scratch so bad Rapunzel has no hope of deciphering any of them. She drags her eyes from the chaos on the paper to what he’s working on now, and finds a half finished drawing of a dark haired boy that looks a whole lot like someone she used to know. Around it, there are several other doodles of him littered amongst the rest of the more analytical work. Ah, so they have met then. She was right about where Hiccup’s been running off to.

“What are you working on?” She asks behind Hiccup, biting back a laugh when he jumps a foot in the air, ripping out his earbuds in the process of turning to her. He’s accidentally dug a dark mark into his rendering of Varian with his pencil. Shame, it was looking really good, almost exactly like him.

“Wh- heyyy Rapunzel!” He says in a failed attempt at nonchalance, snapping the journal shut on the table.

“Hello Hiccup.” She says and gestures to the bench of the picnic table. “Can I join you?”

He swallows and shifts to make room for her, pushing the journal behind him. “Sure, I’m not really doing anything.”

She holds off the comment that she’s pretty sure he was, in fact, doing something, and sits next to him. “What were you working on?” she repeats.

Hiccup twitches nervously. “Just a few ideas for some stuff back home.”

“Oh? Like what?” She’s willing to play along for right now, because if he really does have contact with Varian, she’s not going to risk making a mess of things again. She does let the smallest tendril of her magic slip out though, nothing that Hiccup will notice, testing for any sign of Varian’s own on him. There’s not a trace of it, which is odd if Hiccup’s been spending time with him. When Rapunzel knew him, he was pretty free with how he used his powers, and the last streaks of it had clung to her, Cass and Eugene for weeks after things went awry. It’s odd that Hiccup isn’t showing any signs of it.

Hiccup seems to relax a little and will actually meet her eye now. “When we introduced dragons fully to Berk, there were a lot of things that needed to be adjusted to make life easier for both them and us. We had to build in all kinds of precautions. Fire prevention, special housing, feeding stations, et cetera. There’s only so much we can do on our own, so a lot of it I had to automate so everything would run smoother. Things always have to be updated though. New breeds come in, we inevitably find a new problem, something breaks again. You can only baby proof an island overrun with dragons so well.”

“Sounds like a lot of work for one person.”

Hiccup gives her a shrug. “Eh, it’s what I’m good at. And it makes life a hell of a lot easier for everyone, so worth it.”

“Still, it sounds like you’re the only reason anything at Berk is still running.” She’s impressed. She rarely has to do much in Corona, her parents had wanted to give her as much freedom as possible after Gothel. To be the main engineer for a whole island, it’s a lot of pressure.

“Hardly. I improve and fix things where they’re needed.”

He’s far too humble. “From what your father has told me, he seems to disagree pretty heavily. He told my dad that the island would still be in a pretty bad shape without you. Went on and on about how much you’ve improved the lives of everyone there.”

Hiccup flushes next to her, reaching a hand up to rub awkwardly at the back of his neck. “He likes to brag really. All I really did was actually pay attention to the dragons instead of trying to kill them. And I introduced them to Berk, so it’s partially my responsibility to take care of them.”

Rapunzel raises a brow at him. “Honestly,” he defends. “I spend more time with them now than actually helping around the island. When things first switched over, I was everywhere all the time, but now I’m only really in my workshop or helping Gobber tend to the dragons that need special treatment. Ones who are sick or need prosthetics, like Toothless.”

“You sell yourself too short, Hiccup.” She gives him a kind smile. He ducks his head and the red in his cheeks deepens. They sit in comfortable silence for a few minutes after that, the sun dipping further down towards the line of the ocean.

She shifts her eyes to the rolling blue waves far below them. They crash gently into the sand, pushing and receding. She chews on her lip as she watches. “Do you ever worry that you made the wrong choice, bringing dragons to Berk?”

“Never.” Hiccup says, and he sounds so confident in his answer. There’s something hard and sure in his voice that she hasn’t heard from him before. “Yes, it does get hard managing things sometimes, and yes we’re always under threat of poachers. But you don’t know what Berk was like before. The violence, the killing. No one would listen to anything but tradition and paranoia. My mother nearly went mad trying to change everyone’s minds. There were so many people and dragons dying, and now we live in peace. We’re a sanctuary now, not a killing field. The dragons take up a lot of space, but at least they have space now. Every dragon has a place at Berk, and will be protected. No matter how unruly, or difficult, or dangerous. We’re better off protecting them then trying to fight them.”

Rapunzel feels something welling up in her gut. Her gaze shifts further up the shoreline until it reaches a bend in the cliffs that keeps her from seeing any further. “The world is lucky to have understanding people like you, Hiccup, to make places like that. Places that are safe and willing to learn about the things that scare them.”

…

Valka loves her son, but she’s not stupid.

She may not always be as good at reading him as Stoick is, her husband has had all eighteen years to learn, and she’s had barely two, but Hiccup is far too much like herself for Valka not to notice when something is up. Stoick overlooks it, probably doesn’t even see that Hiccup’s been in town less and less lately. He’ll chalk it up to him just avoiding the politics of the negotiations, but Valka knows better.

She’s seen him sneaking off. Seen him disappear into the forest, with or without Toothless. She’s seen the gleam in his eyes when he eventually comes back. It’s a look she’s gotten used to seeing on him when he’s found a new species of dragon, or when something goes well in his workshop. He’s found something, something that interests him, and he’s doing a horrific job of hiding it from her.

Valka is almost positive that Astrid sees it too. The younger woman probably knew about it before Valka even began to suspect. It’s unusual for her son not to confide in his friend, and she prays that it’s just him being stupid and not something worse.

Thus far, Hiccup has come back unscathed, so she won’t call him on acting like a fool. And because it’s not as if Valka hasn’t done the same thing, she’s not been as obvious or frequent about it. Both she and her son have the same wanderlust running in their veins and she’s taken Cloudjumper out under the cover of night more than a few times, though she hasn’t found anything yet. She trusts Hiccup too, knows that even though he’s unbearably reckless, he’s also got a good head on his shoulders and will keep himself and his mount safe. She just hopes whatever’s caught his attention isn’t too dangerous, even though she thinks her definition of danger and her son’s might be a little different.

…

“Not to be a mother hen,” Hiccup says, shading his eyes from the glare of the sun. “But none of this looks at all safe.”

“You ride dragons, as far as I’m concerned, you can shut the fuck up about what is and is not safe.”

Hiccup is taking active measures to keep his heart from jumping into his throat. Varian is perched on the barest edge of the roof and fiddling with a tangle of radio wires. By all accounts, at the angle he’s wound around the lip of the shingling, there is no way he should still be up there. Of course, Varian chooses right then to swing himself around the edge of the roof like an absolute madman and now he’s really only hanging on by one leg that’s hooked over the gutter. He’s entirely too calm about the whole thing, and Hiccup is going to have a heart attack.

Toothless doesn’t seem to be doing any better than him either. His dragon is pacing anxiously back and forth by the house. He hasn’t taken his big eyes off of Varian and keeps pawing at the stucco of the walls.

“Varian please, for the love of the gods get down, you’re going to kill yourself.”

Varian flicks his hair out of his face and keeps on working. “I’m fine Hiccup. I’ve done this at least ten times already and haven’t fallen yet.”

“That doesn’t mean you won’t.”

“Hiccup, really,” and Varian cranes his neck back in an attempt to look him in the eye at the god awful angle he’s in. “I’ve had to repair this damn thing enough times on my own. I’m not you, I’ve got this handled.”

“I really think you don’t.”

Varian flips him off, which is terrifying because he’s only holding on with one hand now, and goes back to screwing all manner of nonsense to the radio wires. He spends several more agonizing minutes like that, twisted around the edge of the roof like a pretzel.

Finally, Varian shoves one last wire into place and moves to swing himself back onto the roof properly. He loosens his grip on the lip of the shingles just slightly as he wiggles around and wobbles precariously for a second. And apparently Toothless has had enough of it.

“TOOTHLESS NO!” Hiccup yells and watches, horrified, as his dragon leaps up, secures his teeth tightly in the back of Varian's shirt, and yanks the boy down. Varian screams to the high evens and then Hiccup is running to where his absolute fucking _idiot_ of a dragon is gently lowering him to the ground.

“What the fuck?!” Varian is shouting when Toothless finally lets go of his shirt, doing his best to scramble away from him. The dragon ignores him and butts his giant head into Varian's space, sniffing and nosing at him.

“Shit, Varian I’m so sorry I don’t know what’s wrong with him.” Hiccup says, pulling against Toothless’ harness to try and give the boy some room.

“Hiccup he could have killed me!”

Hiccup keeps tugging at Toothless. “I’m really so sorry. I don’t think he was trying to. You just looked like you were going to fall and I think he panicked.”

“Well I wasn’t, you great big stupid lizard.” Varian glares at Toothless, who is still snuffling at him. Shockingly, he lets Toothless finish checking that he’s alright. It’s a comparatively tame response from Varian, and Hiccup isn’t quite sure what to do with it.

Eventually he does push Toothless’ head away and turns to look up at where he’d been hanging on the roof. “The radio wires should work better now, but all my tools are still up there because of your great stinking beast.”

Hiccup has all of five seconds to feel guilty before he has to hold in a surprised cackle when Toothless gives Varian a giant wet lick up the side of his arm and face. Varian stands there for a minute, hair sticking up on one side, dripping in dragon saliva and looking absolutely scandalized.

“I feel violated.”

And now Hiccup really can’t keep a lid on his laughter, and ends up in a heaving fit on the ground because of it. Varian looks at him like he’s planning a murder and Toothless wiggles next to him, far too pleased with himself.

…

They are both covered in dirt and sweat and the sun is just roasting them alive. It’s well past noon and Varian will bet that today is one of the hottest they’ve had yet this summer. He’s going to have the sunburn from hell after all this, regardless of how much sunscreen he’s put on.

He looks to his side and decides that maybe he might be overexaggerating a bit because Hiccup is _pink_. Varian is endlessly grateful that he spends so much time in the sun and his skin isn’t that fair.

“You look like a lobster.”

Hiccup swats half heartedly at him from where he’s lying next to him in the grass. “Shut up. I feel like I’m gonna die.”

He snorts and props himself up on his elbows. “God you’re pathetic.”

“Varian please,” He whines. “I was raised on an island in the North Atlantic, I don’t think we ever get over seventy degrees there. Heat like this shouldn't exist.”

“Sorry to disappoint you, but it does.”

“I’d noticed.” He sounds absolutely miserable and Varian is sure he's an awful person for finding it hilarious. “Please tell me we don’t have much more to do, I might actually melt into the ground.”

“Remember the part where you volunteered for this?” he says back, even if he isn’t exactly thrilled to get back to work himself. They’ve been digging up the garden for most of the day so Varian can replant some of plants that decided to throw a fit because of the rise in temperatures. The front yard looks like a mess because of it and Varian is even less thrilled about the cleanup he’s going to have to do once they’re done. “We’re not even close to being done.”

“Fuuuuuuuuck.” Hiccup groans and he sounds so unbelievably defeated.

“Mhmm, now up up, the sooner we get to work the sooner we’ll be done, and then you can go back to town and leave me in peace again.”

Hiccup sticks his tongue out at him because he’s an actual five year old. “It’s only been like ten minutes, we can rest for longer than that.”

“Nope.” Varian responds, prodding at Hiccup’s side with the toe of his shoe. “C’mon, if you’re here then you’re helping when I tell you to, not when you want to.”

Hiccup groans and rolls himself up until he at least isn’t laying down anymore. “It’s almost two o’clock and we haven’t even had lunch yet. If we keep going like this, it won’t be the sun alone that kills me.”

“Well I’m not feeding you, so if you’re hungry then that’s on you.” Varian says, even though his mention of food has his own stomach grumbling. Breakfast really was a long time ago for him. But Varian knows he barely has enough food in the lighthouse to feed himself, much less another person.

“Dammit.” He hears Hiccup complain from behind him as he goes to tug his gloves back on.

“Get used to starvation Hiccup.” Varian scoops up a shovel and chucks the gloves he lent Hiccup at him. One lands smack in his face and Varian takes a moment to revel in his good aim while Hiccup glares at him. But, eventually Hiccup does get up, and though he does gripe for the rest of the time they work, when he finally does leave much later in the evening, the entire garden has been overturned and the front yard is cleaned up. And it’s all been done so much better than Varian could have ever managed on his own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This just in, Varian still thinks Hiccup is a nuisance, but he's coping with it. For now.


End file.
